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The European Union faces the same formidable increase in cyber attacks as the United States—but comes up against issues compounded by disparate national laws and cybersecurity expertise, experts say. While technology might lead to some of the security lapses, humans certainly contribute to the problem.

Rapidly evolving commercial solutions are having a large effect on how the intelligence community collects, processes and analyzes data to gain improved strategic agility. Enhanced reactive and predictive awareness will allow the United States to engage with global partners successfully while out-maneuvering adversaries at home and abroad. But for this to work, the U.S. government must challenge the status quo, stop accepting incremental change and push a cultural shift in policy.

As cybersecurity defenses improve, so do the breaching tactics and methods by adversaries driven to hack into commercial and government networks. And they are doing so at alarming speeds, outpacing defense efforts.

The U.S. government-backed cybersecurity framework for the nation’s federal agencies and critical infrastructure sector—released one year ago today—has received a general thumbs up of approval from industry experts, who say the NIST guideline is proving a successful advent toward a better understanding of cyber risks and organizations’ vulnerabilities.

Where sequestration had been the focal point of discussions only 24 hours earlier, Wednesday at West 2015 featured force modernization as its focal point. Military, civilian government and industry leaders discussed modernization plans as well as the ailing defense information technology acquisition architecture.

Unlike other postwar cycles when the military downsized, the current environment is more dynamic and hostile than any other postwar period. So, the military does not have time to reset itself and adjust to a new mobilization.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is rolling out a new open source collaboration service to facilitate secure Web-based conferencing and chats throughout the Defense Department, and is expecting to save millions of dollars over the legacy enterprise, officials say.

The technological lead the U.S. military has over its adversaries could be a fleeting one as repeated budgetary cuts have bled funding from research and development coffers while rivals grew their technology prowess, offers Adm. Jonathan Greenert, USN, the Navy’s top military officer.

The U.S. Army, which purchases vast numbers of tactical radios, will no longer do so through sole-source contracting, vows Maj. Gen. Daniel Hughes, USA, PEO-C3T. Competing every single contract is designed to create a radio marketplace that fosters innovation while saving time and money.